Boy
by bikelock28
Summary: "He loves loud music, dogs, fireworks and Bertie Botts'. He hates tomatoes, pigeons and history". Two oneshots, two families, two boys, and two little girls who want to marry them.
1. Dora

Boy

She is going to marry Sirius Black. They're related, but he's not her brother or anything so Dora reckons that it's allowed, and if it isn't then she's going to marry him anyway.

Princes in picture-book fairytales have thick brown hair and square jaws and wear gold sashes. Dora is glad that she's always hated fairytales because Sirius doesn't look anything like that. He's got long dark hair like Mummy's, except his is wilder. When Dora was little she liked to thread her fingers through Sirius' hair and Mummy and Daddy were surprised that she didn't yank it, but she was more careful with Sirius' hair than with Mummy's. Sirius' face is bony. He wears black jeans and boots and tight t-shirts in different colours. He's got a tattoo of an arrow on his arm and another tattoo at the top of his chest that looks like a cross. Sirius Black is more handsome than any prince in any fairy story.

On the days that Sirius comes to visit Dora grows herself taller and makes her face look what she hopes is a bit more grown-up.

"What are you doing?" Daddy asks as she studies herself in the mirror. She's not meant to grow herself because the Healers say it'll mess with her height in the future. But she makes an exception for Sirius.

Dora shrugs. "Just practicing."

Most adults give her a hug or a hair-ruffle when they come into the house, but Sirius always kneels down and kisses Dora's hand like she is a grown-up lady and says, "Hello, Nymphadora," in his gravelly voice. She hates her real first name but there's something in his tone that makes her not want to correct him. Sirius listens to everything she says and answers questions properly and asks serious questions of his own. He often asks her if she wants a brother or sister.

"Maybe," Dora shrugs, "Only if it would play with me,"

"Well, who wouldn't want to play with you?" he says, looking affronted. They're lying on their tummies on the living room floor making her toy dragons fight each other.

"And I want a brother, not a sister,"

'How come?"

"Girls are boring,"

"You're a girl. You're not boring," Sirius points out.

"Hmm. Yeah,"

"You're loads of fun," he says, and to prove it he leans over, grabs her arms and tickles her until she feels sick.

* * *

Sirius has a motorbike. When Dora was little he would lift her onto the seat and sit close behind her tilting the handle bars and growling engine noises like they were really driving. She liked feeling his tummy against her back and his arms touching hers. He smelt of smoke. Mummy always tells him off for smoking but Sirius doesn't care. Dora doesn't think he cares about anything. Nowadays Sirius takes her for a real drive out on the motorbike. It's _so_ exciting. He tosses her his spare helmet which is huge on her head, and Daddy makes him promise to only ride around the block and to drive slowly. Sirius nods solemnly and crosses his heart, then winks at Dora as he puts his own helmet on, and she knows that they will be going further than just round the block and they will _not_ be going slowly. Sirius jumps onto the bike and Dora climbs on behind him, looping her arms around his narrow body, and they drive onto the high street and up to the main road, the bike juddering and rumbling. Sirius does a couple of laps of the roundabout, titling the bike on the curve. Dora squeals and clings even harder to his t-shirt. They turn off the roundabout and drive back along the riverside track. There's no cars there so they can go _really_ fast, the bike gets getting louder and jerkier and Sirius whoops from underneath his helmet. Then he drives home through Eldon Road and she tries not to giggle when Sirius tells Daddy, with a completely straight face, that they only went two streets from home.

* * *

Mummy and Daddy ran away together, and Sirius ran away too, so he's the only one of Mummy's family that writes or comes to visit. This doesn't make sense but Dora didn't understand when Mummy explained it to her.

"I think that you and Daddy are worth more than the rest of my family, and so does Sirius," Mummy had said at last, "So that's the most important thing, isn't it?"

Dora supposed that it was.

Sirius sometimes tags along to see Dad's side of the family. They don't do magic because they are Muggles. Sirius doesn't know many Muggles so he likes showing off to them. That's what Dad calls it when Sirius warms up the tea with his wand or turns the coffee table into a hedgehog. Dora thinks it is brilliant.

Daddy fixes broken Floo networks and Mummy works at the bank with something called counterfeits. Dora isn't sure what Sirius' job is and he never gives her a straight answer. She suspects it's something cool and secret like catching dragons or hunting treasure. He's good at keeping secrets, like the motorbike rides or the pair of earrings he bought Mummy for Christmas when they were all out in Diagon Alley, or when he pretended he didn't know anything about the flowerpot Dora had smashed. Mummy gets cross at calls Sirius a "feckless cad' and a "recalcitrant rascal". But also calls him "my love" and "darling" and " _ma petite puce"._ Daddy calls him "that mad boy" and says that he was "born to hang" but like Mummy he smiles when he says it. Sirius' favourite things to say that aren't swear words are "It's worth a shot" and "I'd like to see you try". His laugh is sharp and rough. When he's cross he makes a sort of, "Tchh" noise with his teeth. They're neat and white even though Mummy says that the cigarettes will turn them yellow.

Sirius Black loves loud music, dogs, fireworks and Bertie Botts'. He hates tomatoes, pigeons and history. He often speaks French with Mummy, and he likes it when Daddy shows him his Muggle map collection. He supports the Tutshill Tornadoes. His handwriting is neat. He assured Dora once, very seriously, that he is never wrong. He always puts brown sauce on his bacon sandwiches. Dora is sure that she is going to marry him.

* * *

When she is nine Sirius disappears. Two people die and Sirius is the reason why. He is going to prison.

"How long for?" Dora asks Daddy, because Mummy is upstairs shouting and crying.

"A very long time," says Daddy.

"But we can visit him, can't we?"

"No, sweetheart. I know this is difficult, it's difficult for all of us. But he wasn't who we thought he was,"

"Who was he, then?"

"He was…bad. He must have been good at pretending because every believed he wasn't like the rest of them, but…"

"The rest of who?"

"Your Mum's family,"

"But Sirius is the only one of Mummy's family she talks to, isn't he?"

"He was," said Daddy sadly, "Which means that she's only got you and me now, Dora. Understand?"

"But, Sirius…" she says uselessly.

"I'm sorry, darling. I know you liked him,"

"I didn't like him," she mumbles, wiping her tears with her sleeve, "I love him".


	2. Lily

She is going to marry Teddy Lupin. He's not a cousin but he's as good as family already, so Lily is sure that Mum and Dad will be pleased.

Teddy Lupin can change what he looks like. That's a bit confusing but mostly it's fun because he can make his mouth into a beak or a snout and he can move his eyebrows across his forehead like caterpillars. Teddy changes his hair colour all the time. Sometimes it is black, sometimes it is pink and sometimes it is ginger like Lily's. That's her favourite. Her second-favourite colour of Teddy's hair is turquoise, which is his usual one, and her third is pink. Teddy wears shirts that button up to his neck and drainpipe jeans with tears at the knee.

Teddy went to Hogwarts when Lily was a baby, but he visits all the time in holidays. Lily and her brothers hurl themselves at him when he appears in the fireplace. James usually gets there first, leaps onto Teddy's back and demands that Teddy watches a new trick he's learnt on his toy broomstick. Albus asks Teddy loads of questions and wants to play hide-and-seek. Lily reaches Teddy last and is left to tug foolishly on his jumper. But once he's wrestled the boys off he lifts her up and say, "And here's my princess Lily". Lily likes that because Mum and Dad never call her a princess, and it's sort of nice to feel girly. The boys always talk over her but Teddy tells them, "Shush a sec, let me hear what Lily says". He asks her what she thinks of James' toy broomstick tricks and if she can do it too.

"Of course," she tells him, "But I don't show off like James,"

"I do _not_ show off _,"_ James huffs.

"Alright, alright," says Teddy. If Mum or Dad say that Lily and James mostly carry on arguing, but Teddy saying it makes Lily want to seem like a grown-up, so she stops teasing James, and James shuts up for once too.

Lily's favourite thing is if the boys are out and it's just her and Teddy at home. They have a picnic with all Lily's dollies, and Teddy pours the tea and says, "Delicious cake, Miss Potter". Or he tells her a story- Teddy likes reading and usually has a grubby paperback stuffed into his back pocket. He'll ask Lily to choose one of her fairytale picture books and she'll sit on his bony legs while he reads it aloud. Teddy's better at reading than Mum and Dad because does all the voices and giant's footsteps and troll grunts. Sometimes he announces, "I'm bored of this story," so they make up their own together. Lily thinks that one day they could write a book. In a few years Teddy will have finished school and James and Albus will have started, so he can come round to play and tell fairytales with her all the time.

Lily's least favourite thing is when Dad takes Teddy and the boys out together to Neville's pub or to the races, and she can't join in.

"It's a boys' day," Albus explains unapologetically.

"You'd be bored, Lil," agrees James.

"No I wouldn't," Lily protests, "I want to come _too,"_

"No girls allowed," says James, folding his arms.

"Pack it in, you lot," says Dad, "Lily, you'll be allowed to come when you're older, I promise,"

"It's not cos I'm a girl?"

Dad smiles. "Now, do you really think your Mum would let me get away with not taking you because you're a girl?" he says. Lily smiles back, because he's right.

* * *

Teddy's Mum and Dad are dead. They died fighting in the war that Lily's Mum and Dad and all the rest of the family fought in, so Teddy lives with his Granny. Lily and her brothers agree that Teddy's Granny is scary, so Teddy must be very brave to have grown up with her. Lily's parents are Teddy's godparents, which meant that they are a bit like his Mum and Dad too. Lily is glad about that because it must be sad not to have parents, but she's nervous to say this in front of Teddy in case it upsets him. Dad has no parents too, but Dad's an adult so it's difficult to imagine him growing up an orphan. Teddy is grown-up but he isn't _a_ grown-up. Lily reckons that Dad talks to him about that sort of thing because Dad understands it, and they talk about Teddy's Mum and Dad too. There are photos of them in Lily's house, waving down from picture frames. Teddy looks a lot like his Dad but the cool hair comes from his Mum. They look happy.

Teddy Lupin has messy handwriting. He never wears jumpers that have hoods. When he leaves school he wants to be a Healer. His real name is Edward but nobody ever calls him that. He supports the Wigtown Wanderers, although he's promised Lily that the Harpies are his second team. He's always tripping up, spilling, smashing or saying, "Oops, sorry. My fault". He loves loud music. Dad has promised him that when he's older he can have Dad's motorbike. James is cross about that but Dad insists that the bike's Teddy's. His Granny's taught him some French and Lily's heard him speaking with her cousins Vic, Louis and Domonique. It sounds really clever and romantic. Lily's Dad and some of her uncles are handsome, but Teddy Lupin is pretty. "Boys aren't pretty,' James scoffed when Lily mentioned this to him, but Lily doesn't think that Teddy would mind. He's got earrings and he likes having pink hair and playing with Lily's dollies. Perhaps big boys don't care about if something is girly, or perhaps it's just Teddy. It makes Lily love him even more.

For ages he's been saying that he wants a tattoo, but he keeps dithering over what to get.

"For what it's worth," Mum tells him, "Your Dad would disapprove and your Mum would think it was awesome,"

"Yeah, Bill said that too. So I reckon I might get something Dad would like. I'm thinking either a record, a half-moon, a Boggart or a bar of chocolate,"

"A bar of chocolate would be fun," says Mum.

"Yeah, wouldn't it?" Teddy grins, "Any thoughts, Lil?"

She loves it when he asks her opinions like this. Lily considers, then suggests, "You could get a teddy,"

Teddy chuckles and tells her that that's an excellent idea.

* * *

When she is eight she falls in love with a Muggle boy down the road called David Solomon. Lily decides that she will marry him instead of Teddy, although of course Teddy will still be her very special friend. When she is nine James tells her that he's seen Teddy kissing Lily's cousin Victoire on the station platform.

"He's snogging her!" James gasps repeatedly. Lily wants to find and watch them; her beautiful big cousin and her lovely Teddy. Because them together, Lily knows with a sudden dawn of realisation, is the real fairytale after all.


End file.
